From owner-freebsd-advocacy Thu Nov 5 22:08:03 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id WAA21538 for freebsd-advocacy-outgoing; Thu, 5 Nov 1998 22:08:03 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from obie.softweyr.com ([204.68.178.33]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id WAA21519 for ; Thu, 5 Nov 1998 22:07:59 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from wes@softweyr.com) Received: from softweyr.com (wes@zaphod.softweyr.com [204.68.178.35]) by obie.softweyr.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id XAA09796; Thu, 5 Nov 1998 23:07:34 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from wes@softweyr.com) Message-ID: <36429226.49A3B42D@softweyr.com> Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1998 23:07:34 -0700 From: Wes Peters Organization: Softweyr llc X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (X11; I; FreeBSD 2.2.6-RELEASE i386) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Greg Lehey CC: freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG, miker@cnet.com Subject: Re: Halloween memo - what does it mean? References: <36427EB4.AABA1891@softweyr.com> <19981106154908.A1776@freebie.lemis.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG Greg Lehey wrote: > > Yes, I got the impression pretty early on that this whole business is > at least partially related to the lawsuit. But that doesn't mean that > that is the only reason, nor that Microsoft deliberately planted it. > Think back to when it came out, and people claimed that esr had > written it himself, and others said that it looked nothing like > Microslop. > > I suspect that this memo does, in fact, reflect Microsoft's concerns > to some degree. It's been written by a minion (I got a mail message > from somebody who went to school with him and gave him a call when he > heard. He doesn't want his name to be mentioned), and there's no > evidence that Microsoft is going to do what he recommends. Maybe they > decided the best thing they could do with it is leak it. But I think > you're misjudging Microsoft if you think that's the only reason it was > written. No, I suspect it was written because someone was told to research Linux and come up with ways to respond to it. I've done the same work many times, even *against* open-source software. Yes, indeed, when I designed Security Toolkit/UNIX, our number-one competition was COPS. I met Dan Farmer at Uniforum that year, and he was quite condescending. This is probably the primary reason why COPS, and nearly everything else Mr. Farmer has done, have sunk into obscurity, while what remains of Security Toolkit/UNIX is now a $50,000,000/year business. Nobody THERE was condescending to their customers, or condescending about potential business adversaries, including COPS. I authored a similar multi-page memo outlining to the sales staff how to sell Security Toolkit/UNIX vs. COPS. It touches on many of the points Microsoft makes vs. Linux, FreeBSD, and other essentially unsupported "OSS." None of this has anything to do with the timing of this memo, where it showed up, or the bare fact that Microsoft is just not a "leaking" culture. Their product plans and market research are among the most closely held secrets on this planet, and I am highly suspicious of the number of holes that have opened up in Redmond in the last few weeks. -- "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?" Wes Peters Softweyr LLC http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr wes@softweyr.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message